Great Violinists And Pianists eBook

VIOTTI.

Viotti, the Connecting Link between the Early and
Modern Violin Schools.—­His Immense Superiority
over his Contemporaries and Predecessors.—­Other
Violinists of his Time, Giornowick and Boccherini.—­Viotti’s
Early Years—­His Arrival in Paris, and the
Sensation he made—­His Reception by the Court.—­Viotti’s
Personal Pride and Dignity.—­His Rebuke
to Princely Impertinence.—­The Musical Circles
of Paris.—­Viotti’s Last Publie Concert
in Paris.—­He suddenly departs for London.—­Becomes
Director of the King’s Theatre.—­Is
compelled to leave the Country as a Suspected Revolutionist.—­His
Return to England, and Metamorphosis into a Vintner.—­The
French Singer, Garat, finds him out in his London
Obscurity.—­Anecdote of Viotti’s Dinner
Party.—­He quits the Wine Trade for his
own Profession.—­Is made Director of the
Paris Grand Opera.—­Letter from Rossini.—­Viotti’s
Account of the “Ranz des Vaches.”—­Anecdotes
of the Great Violinist.—­Dies in London in
1824.—­Viotti’s Place as a Violinist,
and Style of Playing.—­The Tourte Bow first
invented during his Time.—­An Indispensable
Factor in Great Playing on the Violin.—­Viotti’s
Pupils, and his Influence on the Musical Art.

I.

In the person of the celebrated Viotti we recognize
the link connecting the modern school of violin-playing
with the schools of the past. He was generally
hailed as the leading violinist of his time, and his
influence, not merely on violin music but music in
general, was of a very palpable order. In him
were united the accomplishments of the great virtuoso
and the gifts of the composer. At the time that
Viotti’s star shot into such splendor in the
musical horizon, there were not a few clever violinists,
and only a genius of the finest type could have attained
and perpetuated such a regal sway among his contemporaries.
At the time when Viotti appeared in Paris the popular
heart was completely captivated by Giornowick, whose
eccentric and quarrelsome character as a man cooperated
with his artistic excellence to keep him constantly
in the public eye. Giornowick was a Palermitan,
born in 1745, and his career was thoroughly artistic
and full of romantic vicissitudes. His style
was very graceful and elegant, his tone singularly
pure. One of the most popular and seductive tricks
in his art was the treating of well-known airs as
rondos, returning ever and anon to his theme after
a variety of brilliant excursions in a way that used
to fascinate his hearers, thus anticipating some of
his brilliant successors.

Michael Kelly heard him at Vienna. “He
was a man of a certain age,” he tells us, “but
in the full vigor of talent. His tone was very
powerful, his execution most rapid, and his taste,
above all, alluring. No performer in my remembrance
played such pleasing music.” Dubourg relates
that on one occasion, when Giornowick had announced
a concert at Lyons, he found the people rather retentive
of their money, so he postponed the concert to the
following evening, reducing the price of the tickets
to one half. A crowded company was the result.
But the bird had flown! The artist had left Lyons
without ceremony, together with the receipts from
sales of tickets.